Roy Tang

Programmer, engineer, scientist, critic, gamer, dreamer, and kid-at-heart.

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Mar 2016

  • Someone on quora asked:

    Why is Sony blocking a particular ISPs in Philippines?

    There are many people using PLDT that are able to play online using the PS4. There is probably some sort of configuration or routing issue in your area which is causing the problem.

    Also, try a hard reset on your router every so often. I had this issue with my Bayantel router that my PS4 suddenly can’t connect to PSN for a few days. After some time and a few router restarts, it got better.

    I suggest calling Sony support. Tell them about the error and ask them for technical details of the possible cause, and if there are any diagnostics you can do. Ask them what you need to tell your ISP to check

    Posted by under notes at #answers
    Also on: quora / 0

  • Someone on quora asked:

    My friend just died from a stroke during his sleep. How can I get rid of my constant fear that someday I would die like him?

    People die at seemingly random times all the time. Not everybody lives up to “old age” and even when you do you still don’t know when death will come for you. There’s no point worrying about it, if you die you die.

    Stay healthy, take care of yourself and be careful not to walk down dangerous areas at night. Now, even though you do all these precautions, there’s no guarantee you won’t suddenly die due to some random accident. Just do what you can and live your life to the fullest. Live each moment as if it might be your last, appreciate the things you have and the people you love and know that they might all vanish in a heartbeat

    Posted by under notes at #answers
    Also on: quora / 0

  • Someone on quora asked:

    I can’t find myself, I just go with the flow. My life is slipping away. I’m not interested in anything and feel unhappy about it. How can I handle it?

    Finding a purpose in life is a life-long pursuit. It won’t necessarily come easily. It may come early in life or it may come late. Don’t let the lack of it lead to despair. Instead, enjoy life and explore it as much as possible. Try out as many new things as you can. Walk down unexplored side streets. Pursue strange and unusual things. Don’t give up, just keep trying different things.

    Think about school subjects you’ve taken and put them in a list. Now sort that list according to which subjects you found most interesting to least. Now you have some indication of where your interests may lie. It may not be a strong indication, but it can be a good place to start

    Posted by under notes at #answers
    Also on: quora / 0

  • Batman vs Superman Dawn of Justice Spoiler-Free Review:

    • (Edit) OK lang panoorin, wag lang magexpect na super ganda ang story. Entertaining naman mga fight scenes :p
    • not a fan of Affleck’s Batman. Too gun-friendly, and he doesn’t really show a Bruce Wayne persona. He’s dark and brooding and grim in and out of the suit
    • Jeremy Irons as Alfred was ok, but he looks like Tony Stark
    • Eisenberg’s Luthor is not the same as any of the previous Luthors. He’s a manic genius, closer perhaps to the Riddler
    • a number of plot details don’t really make any sense. Need to suspend disbelief quite a bit
    • Snyder is too in love with his slow-motion scenes trying to make everything dramatic
    • there are a number of sequences that don’t mesh well together, like Snyder is randomly jumping between scenes that don’t cohere
    • in fact, there are particular scenes that feel like “WTH is this scene for, Snyder is just indulging himself now”
    • it’s like Superman needs to realise that Lois Lane is more trouble than she’s worth
    • yay cameos of future JLers
    • the actual BvS showdown looked great, and went pretty much the way you’d expect
    • Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman was great
    • I liked the final battle sequence
    • many, many things pointing towards the eventual JL movie
    • IMAX? Probably not worth it. Not too much 3d stuff
    • Post-credits scene: NO. Or so the internet tells me, we didn’t bother to wait
    • I can see why the reviewers kind of ripped the movie apart. They definitely need to work more on tightening up the movies, but overall this was better than Man of Steel I think.
    Posted by under notes at #movies #spoiler-free-review
    Also on: facebook / 4

  • Someone on quora asked:

    I’m 19 with no direction in life, am I foolish to think I can work for myself?

    No, it’s not foolish to have dreams. But don’t let your dreams stay dreams. Figure out what kind of work you plan to do for yourself and how you’re going to get there. Step-by-step, as detailed as possible. Take the first steps to get to your goal. Review your plan on a regular basis and make sure that either you are still on that plan or you want to take a different direction.

    Posted by under notes at #answers
    Also on: quora / 0

  • Someone on quora asked:

    I feel bored all the time, I have activities I’m involved in but I still feel bored. What should I do?

    The world is a large and varied place, filled with many things that may or may not pique your interest. If you find your current environment or activities boring, then it is up to you to step outside of it and seek out things that will engage you more.

    It might be daunting because the world offers many possibilities, and not all of them may look interesting at first. I suggest trying out a lot of different things, exploring widely (breadth-first in computer science speak) until you find one or two threads you find interesting then following the ones most promising

    Posted by under notes at #answers
    Also on: quora / 0

  • Someone on quora asked:

    Given an unlimited budget, you can build any (realistic) device or machine anywhere on Earth, what would you build?

    My country gets hit by devastating typhoons on a regular basis. I would build some sort of offshore, gigantic, wind-powered turbine that can capture the power of typhoon-level winds and store the energy in large electrical batteries or something like that. It solves two problems at once, it can reduce the impact of typhoons and it can reduce the cost of power!

    Posted by under notes at #answers
    Also on: quora / 0

  • Someone on quora asked:

    How do I get started to learn java for developing web apps? Do I need to know all of these technologies like servlets, jsp, jsf, spring, struts, etc?

    I always recommend learning java web development in the following order:

    1. Client-side stuff (If you’re not familiar yet - HTML, JavaScript, CSS)
    2. Basic Java usage (no web stuff)
    3. Servlets, including request processing and response generation
    4. JSP, including EL and tag libraries
    5. SQL and basic database usage (If you’re not familiar yet)
    6. Database usage in Java (JDBC)

    At this point, you understand the basics of building webapps in Java without using any frameworks. It will give you a good base from which to branch out and choose specific frameworks or technologies to try and specialize in. The above is part of the regular training course for new developers in a company I previously worked in, new hires (fresh grads) without Java knowledge can complete the above in two weeks.

    I would also recommend the Head First Servlets and JSP book, I’ve found it to be pretty useful

    Posted by under notes at #answers
    Also on: quora / 0

  • Someone on quora asked:

    Does a career in web development become boring and stagnant after 5 years?

    I disagree.

    The thing about this line of work is that there is always something new to do. If you find yourself doing the same type of work all the time, it might be time to look for a different job/company that can offer you more challenging situations.

    I’ve been a web developer since 2004. Over the past five years, most of my projects have brought some new and interesting challenges. Some examples:

    • One of my projects had to be ported from a large legacy client/server system under a minimal budget. We had create a converter that would create the boilerplate java code (I work primarily in servlets/JSP) from the source of the legacy PowerBuilder system which was very challenging since C/S program stuff doesn’t always map cleanly to web-based stuff
    • Another project had me building a generic workflow engine to support the various modules in a large project. The engine had to cater to the different needs of the modules while remaining flexible enough to accommodate new modules and any configuration changes the clients wanted to support (the project had multiple clients)
    • The same project above had us learning about the challenges behind DevOps. The size of the project meant our build and deployment processes had to be revamped otherwise the builds would slow to a crawl (at one point it was taking three or more hours to churn out a build, totally unacceptable at the rate we needed to integrate and verify fixes).
    • I was also involved in a project that included a web portal that acted as messaging hub for a number of mobile apps. That meant devising a messaging protocol and format that could efficiently communicate with a large array of clients in real-time.

    Web development actually has a lot of scope. It’s true that many web development frameworks are largely the same, but that only makes the basic CRUD work easy. It means the developers need to move on to higher-order problems that are not covered by those frameworks.

    Posted by under notes at #answers
    Also on: quora / 0
  • Reply to a comment by NPAofMNL on 'Hello, r/Philippines! I'm an NPA rebel. AMA.' on /r/Philippines:

    Tanggalin ang LAPIDA or Liberalization, Privitization, and Deregulation of social services.

    Which social services are currently in the most need of these changes? Isn’t it a problem that the government has insufficient resources to provide social services which is why some need to be augmented by the private sector? Also, how does that acronym even make sense

    Mass-oriented, nationalist, and scientific education system

    What exactly does mass-oriented mean here? Does nationalist mean dapat may communist propaganda sa curriculum?

    Address the landlessness of many farmers by enacting GARB or Genuine Agrarian Reform

    Doesn’t the movement have lawmaker allies? Have they introduced any legislation towards this end?

    Pantay na karapatan sa mga kababaihan

    Which rights specifically are a problem right now? I understand that society still doesn’t treat women equally, but that seems to me to be primarily a cultural problem and not of policy. I mean, in terms of policy I believe women already basically share the same rights as men in this country (suffrage, etc). There are probably still some outliers, but maybe not being a woman I’m not aware

    More investments ng gobyerno sa scientific sector

    Is this something the movement is a strong advocate of? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of NPA spokespersons discussing this.

    So far yan lang ang nakikita ko.

    These are your personal suggestions right? Is there nothing like a central leadership that establishes such policies? Like some sort of quarterly announcement “Guys, eto yung mga gusto natin mangyari ok?”

    Posted by under notes at #Philippines
    Also on: reddit / 0
  • Reply to a comment by NPAofMNL on 'Hello, r/Philippines! I'm an NPA rebel. AMA.' on /r/Philippines:

    After the socialist revolution, which comes after enacting genuine national democracy.

    What exactly does that mean? No propaganda BS. Like if someone came up to your leadership and said, sige ano yung top 10 action items na kelangan gawin para matapos na ito?

    The business investments themselves are taking advantage of the workforce surplus in an impoverished setting through cheap labor. Papasok diyan yung “at least [insert statement here]. We should not settle for less. As Filipino citizens, we should be entitled to the same rights and opportunities, regardless of socio-economic status.

    Again, what exactly does that mean? What exactly should a business be doing to not be victimized by the NPA? If ako business owner ako, and I want to bring jobs to the people, why should I bother going to regions where there is a strong NPA presence?

    That I don’t know. Sa unit ko, walang ganyan. Cliche na pero, each unit in different areas operate independently from one another, so kung majajustify nila yun, sila na yun.

    Please find someone who can answer, that would be great

    Posted by under notes at #Philippines
    Also on: reddit / 0
  • Reply to 'Hello, r/Philippines! I'm an NPA rebel. AMA.' on /r/Philippines:

    What exactly is the endgame of your movement? What are the conditions where you get to say “That’s it, we did it guys, quitting time”?

    Don’t you think NPA activities in the poorest provinces act as a hindrance to business investment and development in those regions?

    How does bombing cell sites and power plants (thus depriving the area of infrastructure) help improve the lives of the people?

    Posted by under notes at #Philippines
    Also on: reddit / 0

  • Someone on quora asked:

    How can I overcome fear when addressing the public?

    Fear of public speaking is one of the most common fears (if not the most common - more than fear of death even), so in this you are in good company.

    The first key to overcoming any fear is to face it head on. In this case, that means trying out public speaking, no matter how hard it seems or how badly you do. To try it again and again, until that fear is gone. You don’t have to speak in front of an audience of hundreds or thousands to practice, you can do smaller steps first, like maybe in a classroom setting. If you are having trouble for example with a presentation you want to do in class, ask a small group of friends if you could practice the talk/presentation in front of them so they can give you feedback. This will give you more confidence during the actual talk.

    Speaking of confidence, another key is to learn how to express your ideas confidently. This means practice as well, with an example above. But the practice here isn’t restricted to speaking, you need to practice this at every opportunity. You need to practice expressing your ideas not only verbally, but also in written form. You need to be comfortable with the notion of presenting your ideas to people. One thing that can help is to have a like-minded group of friends, the kind you can have deep ongoing conversations with. Or join a debate team in school. Or even try discussing issues with strangers on internet forums (be careful with this one haha). Basically take any opportunity you have to practice expressing your ideas so that you have the confidence to present them to an audience.

    Posted by under notes at #answers
    Also on: quora / 0

  • Someone on quora asked:

    How can I learn to write eloquently without studying journalism?

    Practice, practice, practice.

    What is it you want to write? Practice that, as much as possible. Want to write novels? Write shorter stories first, maybe even just snippets of prose whenever you have free time. You want to write nonfiction about a certain topic? Start a blog about it. Write often. Answer questions on Quora about the topic.

    When possible, put your work up for the world to see, so that you might improve. Look for like-minded people and hang out with them. Take a writing class.

    Read. Read a lot. It will help you recognize what are good forms of writing and what are not. Read the sort of things you expect to write. Be critical of your reading. When you finish reading something, ask yourself “Was this a good piece? How could it be improved?”

    Writing eloquently is not the domain of journalism though.

    Posted by under notes at #answers
    Also on: quora / 0

  • Someone on quora asked:

    How big was the biggest software development team you have worked on? What were you working on?

    The biggest was a case management system (that’s pretty generic, I know), a web application written mostly in Java, that involved a development team of some 30-40 people, of which I was the technical lead. The system was pretty large - case management consisted of a lot of different types of records and there was a significant finance component. The system included a customisable workflow engine of which I was the primary architect.

    Posted by under notes at #answers
    Also on: quora / 0

  • Posted on r/AndroidQuestions: Problems with ASUS Memopad 7

    Hello,

    So my mom has been using an ASUS Memopad 7 for a while now, and she’s been having some trouble with it lately. Namely, many of the apps are now basically unusable and almost always crash with “Unfortunately, [app] has stopped”. I’ve tried checking it before but couldn’t find any obvious problems (like lack of disk space, etc). I also tried installing an app to check the system logs (I believe it was named CatLog) but couldn’t find anything relevant.

    During the past couple of days, the problem became significantly worse. The tablet would always pop an alert “Unfortunately, Contacts has stopped”, and after you dismiss it with [OK], the alert pops up again, repeat ad infinitum. The tablet is practically unusable now.

    Complicating things is that it’s difficult to get the thing to even boot. If I restart it, it loads into a black screen with the Asus logo and a spinning loading icon and stays there forever. Image for reference: http://i.imgur.com/NBhvZ2T.jpg. My mom says she can get it to boot sometimes but only after restarting several times (I don’t have the patience for it, I’ve never gotten it to boot)

    I’ve already managed to back up her relevant data, so I suggested that I do a factory reset. So I hold Power and Volume Up during startup and boot into the following menu: http://i.imgur.com/Anb5Kjl.jpg There’s an error message there, IDK if it’s relevant.

    From the Droidboot Menu, I choose “Recovery” and it reboots again. This time it boots into a screen with a dead Android mascot and the text “No command”. Here’s a shitty cameraphone image for reference: http://i.imgur.com/QgOvHkm.jpg At this point, I’m not sure how to proceed. The Volume buttons are unresponsive. Tapping Power does nothing. If I leave it in this state for a while, it proceeds to try to boot and gets stuck again at the loading icon I showed in the first image.

    Any advice as to how I can get this tablet back into a usable state?

    Posted by under notes at #androidquestions
    Also on: reddit / 0

  • I sat down to write a poem

    Surely it couldn’t be that hard

    To stitch words together In rhyme and iambic pentameter

    My fingers spun across the keys

    And words spilled out in twos and threes

    My first efforts didn’t feel like poetry

    More like rhyming words trying to tell a story

    Dozens of lines discarded

    Why did the words elude me?

    Are they hidden there, in some unknown shadow of my mind

    Running away, burrowing deep, when I turn a corner?

    Was I not good enough?

    Do I need to find a way to light a spark?

    Or maybe poetry isn’t something you force into the light

    Maybe poetry only comes to us in the dark

    #worldpoetryday

    Posted by under notes at #worldpoetryday
    Also on: facebook / 0
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